Name: Bogdan Logvynenko
Age: 29
Education: National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Kyiv National Karpenko-Kary Theater, Cinema and Television University
Profession: Journalist, writer, traveler, activist, music promoter, anchorman, Ukraїner travel show creator
Did you know? Logvynenko had been to more than 50 countries.
Bogdan Logvynenko, born in Kyiv, gets restless when he stays in one spot for long. A multitasker who has never experienced the drudgery of an office worker’s routine, he hasn’t graduated from either of the universities he has studied in.
Now 29, he has already written three novels, which have been published in Ukraine and abroad. He has also organized cultural festivals to promote Ukrainian musicians all around the world.
Logvynenko has worked as a journalist and editor for several Ukrainian media and traveled across Europe, the Baltic Sea coast and Siberia, visiting more than 50 countries, mostly as a hitchhiker.
He studied Polish when he moved to Poland after 2010, and Indonesian after he moved to Malaysia in 2013 and worked as a tour guide across Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia for six months.
As an activist, he has investigated corruption in consulates of Ukraine as part of the “No visa to Ukraine” project.
Asked how many jobs he has done, Logvynenko jokes: “None properly!”
“I haven’t stayed in Kyiv for more than two weeks for several years already,” Logvynenko said. The traveler-writer said he has no free time for his personal life due to his activities.
However, in June 2016, Logvynenko managed to combine all his interests in one activity — the travel show “Ukraїner.” With his friends, he started an 18-month expedition across Ukraine, making videos about the countryand its people.
“We even continue to promote Ukrainian music by using Ukrainian musicians’ songs as soundtracks to our videos,” Logvynenko said.
Logvynenko and his friends financed their first trip on their own. Several months after the first episode of “Ukraїner,” about the hidden gems of Zakarpattya, was published on YouTube, the show found several sponsors, who have been financing the team’s trips across Ukraine.
“Ukraїner” is a show with a mission — to show Ukraine’s positive side, its people and how Ukrainians see their country.
“After seeing our shows a lot of people from different regions started to cooperate with each other. People from Azov Region discovered more about inhabitants of Zakarpattya and vice versa,” Logvynenko said. The writer said the “Ukraїner” team wants to unite Ukraine.
“We filmed stories that unite us. We filmed national minorities, we tried to show how extremely different we all are, but still united,” Logvynenko said. The “Ukraїner” creator said that the team aims to show that Ukraine’s diversity is a great asset and not a means to divide the nation — as some politicians appear to think.
